Island Οf Doomed Men (1940)
Island Οf Doomed Men (1940)
„Island Οf Doomed Men“ is a 1940 thriller film directed by Charles Barton, based on the screenplay by Robert Hardy Andrews.
Mark Sheldon, a government secret service agent, is assigned to investigate a modern slave racket that is hiring paroled convicts into hard labor on an obscure island in the Pacific.
When Sheldon’s partner is murdered just as he is about to reveal that Stephen Danel is the head of the racketeers, the agent goes undercover to solve the case himself. Suave and relentless, Danel lures paroled convicts to his isolated island where they are forced to work as slaves for life. As Danel works men to their death, he is constantly recruiting new workers at the prison gate.
One of these new workers is Government Agent Mark Sheldon (code name 64), who has infiltrated the prison island by pretending to be an ex-con, and allowing himself to be convicted for the murder of a fellow operative, which he did not commit, so that he can spend time in prison, and then be paroled to work on Danel’s island, to build a case against the prison’s corrupt, sadistic warden.
On the island, Sheldon remains silent as he witnesses Danel’s cruelty to his wife, Lorraine Danel, and cook Siggy. It turns out that Danel’s beautiful wife is a prisoner, too.
Lorraine senses that her only hope lies in the defiant Sheldon, to whom she is attracted. Sheldon escapes his confinement long enough to instruct Lorraine to bring him Danel’s keys, but soon after he is recaptured by Cort, the brutal guard captain. Playing on Cort’s greed, Sheldon offers to split Danel’s fortune with him, and Cort allows Sheldon to return and incite the prisoners to revolt. As Lorraine delivers the key to Sheldon, they are surprised by Danel and his guards.
Sheldon’s plans are further disrupted when the prisoners revolt and Cort seizes leadership from Sheldon and announces that he will take care of Lorraine.
Sheldon runs to Danel’s house to warn Lorraine, but soon finds himself facing Danel’s gun. As Danel pauses during Sheldon’s execution to taunt Lorriane, Siggy hurls a knife into his back. After Sheldon subdues the remaining guard and enslaved workers, his mission is accomplished and he and Lorraine fly home.
A 1940 American Black & White film-noir crime thrillerB-Movie directed by Charles Barton, screenplay by Robert Hardy Andrews, cinematography by Benjamin Kline, starring Peter Lorre, Rochelle Hudson, Robert Wilcox, Don Beddoe, George E. Stone, Kenneth MacDonald, Charles Middleton, Stanley Brown, and Earl Gunn.
From 1936-1939, Peter Lorre made a string of highly successful „Mr. Moto“ films. While technically B-Movies, they were much better made than typical films of the genre. However, Lorre tired of making these highly repetitive films and told friends he wanted out of the series. When it was canceled in 1939, Lorre was thrilled but his plans of getting more complicated and satisfying roles did not materialize when he moved to Columbia Pictures. This is one of those films. Lorre’s stay at Columbia was short.
Barton is best known for his future Abbott and Costello films but he does some nice work here and keeps the film moving at a good pace.
The scenes of miners performing slave-labor for Peter Lorre were filmed in L.A.’s Griffith Park inside an area known as Bronson Canyon.
The basic story is based on the true story of Narvassa Island. The main difference was in real life, the men were mining guano, not diamonds and they were black contract workers from the Balitmore area, not paroled convicts. Like in the movie, the men were treated brutally like slaves. This eventually led to an uprising with several of the overseers murdered.
ome of the black workers were then put on trial for murder but when the true story of what was allowed to occur was publicized, they were pardoned by President Harrison. Narvassa
Island, located between Cuba and Haiti, was designated a wildlife refuge in the 1990s. This film was banned by the film censors in Australia. Other censor boards only passed this picture after the whipping scene was edited or eliminated.
Peter Lorre gives one of his most evil performances in this riveting tale, crafting his pulp heavy into an intricate portrayal of the quintessential fascist bully, winning through intimidation, gratified at bending others to his will yet genuinely puzzled and hurt by his inability to earn the love of his cherished captive-wife. As with so many other films he appeared in, the mercurial actor brings something real and human to this typically false and silly Hollywood pantomime, powerful enough to imprint an image of the archetypal crazed villain in generations of movie-watchers.
This solid little enjoyable „B“ thriller from Columbia is well paced under the direction of Charles Barton with tight editing, and worth watching for its dominant villain. It’s atmospheric and violent at times, with Rochelle Hudson adding allure and suspense as we witness some of humankind’s darkest behavior. Peter...
Cast:
- Peter Lorre – Stephen Danel
- Rochelle Hudson – Lorraine Danel
- Robert Wilcox – Mark Sheldon
- Don Beddoe – Brand
- George E. Stone – Siggy
- Kenneth MacDonald – Doctor Rosener
- Charles Middleton – Captain Cort
- Stanley Brown – Eddie
- Earl Gunn – Mitchell
„Island Οf Doomed Men“ ist ein Thriller aus dem Jahr 1940 unter der Regie von Charles Barton, basierend auf dem Drehbuch von Robert Hardy Andrews.
Mark Sheldon, ein Geheimdienstagent der Regierung, wird beauftragt, einen modernen Sklavenhandel zu untersuchen, bei dem entlassene Sträflinge auf einer obskuren Insel im Pazifik zur Zwangsarbeit angeheuert werden.
